Your Money.

They've Got Your Number In New Phone Scams

Methods Of Fraud Involve Offering To Retrieve Money Lost In Previous Schemes Or Charging For `800' Calls

December 29, 1994|By Sean Savage, Knight-Ridder/Tribune.

Many have learned to avoid the classic phone scams involving enticing offers of sweepstakes prizes, travel vouchers and timeshares, but consumers should beware of new methods of phone deception used by savvy con artists.

Some of the most successful new swindlers bilk victims by offering to retrieve money lost to previous phone scams, said John Barker of the National Fraud Information Center.

"There has been so much fraud that one of the most popular things now is what's called reloaders or recovery rooms," Barker said. "They will have names like `Consumer Retrieval Network' or purport to be a law firm or a non-profit organization."

Retrieving money for a fee

These companies often claim the company that swindled the victim has gone into bankruptcy and they can retrieve the lost money for them.

Holly Cherico, director of public relations for the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Va., said reloaders get their leads from other illegitimate telemarketers who compile "sucker lists" of people who have bought into their swindles.

The reloaders convince the victims they can retrieve the money for a fee, or they ask for the customer's credit card or bank account number for "verification," she said. Of course, the victims soon find their accounts depleted and they never hear from the caller again.

"A lot of times, by the time they call the Better Business Bureau, these people have been taken three, four or five times and have lost thousands of dollars," Cherico said.

Another popular phone con involves the use of 800 numbers. Contrary to popular belief, callers can be charged for 800 numbers. However, before they can be charged the law requires companies to complete an agreement with the caller outlining the service to be provided and any charges that will apply.

For example, calling-card holders can be given special access codes and sign contracts informing them they will be charged for the calls before they can use the 800 calling card services. But not everyone obeys the law, said Robert Spangler, deputy chief of the enforcement division of the Federal Communication Commission's Common Carrier Bureau.

Many consumers complain they were charged for calls to 800 numbers they found in magazines or newspapers that offered sexual information or entertainment, Spangler said. "Our complaints to 800 services tripled in the past four to five months. We feel there is an effort to capitalize on the consumers' belief that the calls to 800 numbers are free."

Other companies mislead consumers by inviting them to call 800 numbers that automatically transfer callers to 900 lines or other long-distance numbers, Cherico said. The callers often don't realize they're being charged until they get their monthly phone bill, she said.

But most people think all 800 numbers are toll-free, so many firms have transplanted their 900 schemes to 800 toll numbers, Spangler said.

Preventing long-distance calls

Last month Ameritech introduced Call Control, which enables customers to program their touch-tone phones to either block or allow outgoing calls to specific numbers. The company is test-marketing Call Control in selected southeastern Wisconsin communities and plans to offer it to customers in the major metropolitan areas of its five-state region by summer 1995.

Call Control subscribers can program their phones to block any or all long-distance calls, operator-assisted calls and 900/976 calls, as well as calls to any other specific number. Subscribers also can "unblock" up to 10 phone numbers as exceptions to their blocking requests.

"Call Control provides greater flexibility than our other blocking services," Wilczynski said. "For example, you could block all outbound long-distance calls except those to Uncle Bob in Utah or Grandma in Florida."

The service costs $7.95 per month.

Customers who believe they have received false charges on their bill are encouraged to call Ameritech, said company spokesman Dave Onak. "Depending on what the charge is, it could be waived. We handle these situations on a case-by-case basis."

While new telephone fraud schemes come and go, the classic scams are still flourishing. Last year the Council of Better Business Bureau's largest number of complaints about telemarketing involved sweepstakes and contest offers, office supplies, vacation certificates and advertising deals.

Other telemarketers rip off people by getting to know them and winning their confidence, according to Karen McFarland, director of the consumer service division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Elderly people are favorite targets for these operators because many seniors are lonely and enjoy the conversation and are at home during working hours.